Friday, 25 September 2015

In the 1990’s Funskool, an Indian company, licensed GI
Joe from Hasbro. Using official molds, Funskool released their own ‘’GI Joe
International Heroes’’ over the course of a decade and a half.

I first became aware of this line around 2005 when
Smalljoes.com offered up several Funskool Joes at crazy terrific prices. I
quickly bought some up. When I got them in hand, I realized why they were
inexpensive. The card stock was thin causing the cards to bend, the blisters
did not stay attached and the figures themselves were made from cheap plastic
and had pretty awful paints apps.

Despite these flaws, the line grew on me as it was an
opportunity to get some of my favorite characters at a fraction of the cost of
the vintage ones. The line also offered up new looks for certain figures. Who
doesn’t want Wild Bill in an orange flight suit? Funskool also afforded
collectors a chance to troop build harder-to-find figures like Crimson Guard
Immortal and Night Viper for a very reasonable cost. To top it all off, they
also created new characters to collect like Skydiver and Supercop.

For all these reasons, I have grown to appreciate this
line very much. When the 25th line rolled around, I purged my
Funskool figures along with the rest of my o-ring Joes in favor of the new
constructions figures.

I tackled this project for several reasons. First, I
found myself wanting to add some of these characters and wacky colored figures
to my collection. It started with just a few figures but, after doing some
online research, I realized that there were several more interesting figures in
the line. As the project grew, I was rummaging through my fodder bins and I
decided to use up as much of my older 25th parts as I could.

In the last few years the RoC/PoC/30th/50th
lines have raised the bar as far as sculpting and articulation. As such, I have
been moving away from using older 25th anniversary fodder in favor
of more modern parts for my customs. However, as I started bagging older parts
to set them aside, I realized that I still have a lot. The modern parts banks
is definitely superior, but the older 25th stuff, though dated,
still holds a certain retro charm for me, so I started thinking about what I
could do with it all. So, this project became a big ‘’Spare Parts Brigade’’.

Lastly, my life in the last year has been pretty hectic
(in a good way thankfully) so this project was something I could come back to
easily due to its simplicity.

So, tune in every Friday during October for new Funskool themed customs.

Thursday, 24 September 2015

These are a few ''Lazy Bastard Customs'' (LBCs) - emphasis on the ''Lazy''- that I have put together recently.

First up is Chuckles. Using 50th Shipwreck as a base, this is a simple head swap. I was going for a more realistic CID type with this, so I decided to forgo the Hawaiian shirt.

Using the same base figure, I tweaked 50th Shipwreck. It is a shame, in my opinion, to cover up the ''Navy'' logo on the shirt, so I swapped out the tactical vest for the 25th Anniversary satchel. As a bonus, it gives Polly a better spot to perch.

Playing around with all the Marauder Task Force figures that I received from the Kickstarter campaign, I slapped together a Cobra Trooper. This has been done many times by others, but I wanted to give it a try for myself. It will do for now, but I am still experimenting with the MTF figure, so this trooper may end up donating some parts to another project down the road.

Lastly, I had some spare Shock Trooper parts as well as a spare Steel Brigade Delta body, so I combined them. Now I have a green Shock Trooper. I'm not sure what I will use him for yet. Maybe he's an officer of some kind or a private military contractor hired by Cobra or part of a special security response team stationed at Extensive Enterprises...

Tomorrow, I'll post details of a mini-project that I have working on for a while and that I will be posting over the next few Fridays. So, stay tuned.

Friday, 11 September 2015

I have been working on these off and on during the Summer. I have been meaning to post them as I go, but I am a bit behind. So here is a rather large batch of customs all at once. These are all pretty simple customs. Since the Summer has been very busy, I tried to work on customs that did not require too much brain power lol.

Roadblock
(Battle Corps)

When I was working on my Battle Corps Month in
mid-2013, I looked at ways of including Roadblock in the project.
Unfortunately, at the time, the number of ‘’big guy’’ parts was very limited.
Now that The Rock has joined GI Joe, there are a few bucks to choose from, so I
went back to take another look. This version of Roadblock was released in 1992
(so not technically part of Battle Corps). A repainted version of the same mold
was released a year later sporting neon green webgear. If I can find the right
parts, I may look at making the latter version sometime in the future.

Head, torso, arms, legs: Ret Ultimate Roadblock

Webgear: 25th Cobra Bazooka Trooper

Duke and Roadblock - Heavy
Assault Squad

One of the great things that came out of the New
Sculpt years, particularly during Valor Vs Venom, was the Toys R Us 6-packs.
These sets took vintage Joes and repainted them into new sub-teams. The Heavy
Assault Squad was the last of these packs to be released. Unfortunately, the
original set was lacking. The figures themselves were pretty good (except for a
few strange parts choices), but the team had no heavy weapons and included
Snake Eyes and 3 Greenshirts.

However, Roadblock’s inclusion makes sense so, once I
pieced together my Battle Corps version, I figured I would make another one. I
tried to replicate the colors as best I could and outfitted him with a weapon
more befitting the name of the squad. Since the Heavy Assault Squad does not
exist in my Joe-verse, Roadblock will be displayed on my Night Force shelf.

Head, torso, arms, legs: Ret Ultimate Roadblock

Webgear: 25th Cobra Bazooka Trooper

Duke’s inclusion in the original set makes sense once
we realize that it was not originally supposed to be the ‘’Heavy Assault Squad’’.
It seems it was originally planned as a covert squad on a mission to rescue Ace
from Cobra. Somewhere along the line, it got changed. Still, since I like the
deco and I was making Roadblock anyway, I thought it would be fun to make Duke
as well. I tried to replicate the colors as best I could. Since the Heavy
Assault Squad does not exist in my Joe-verse, Duke will be displayed on my
Night Force shelf.

Scrap-Iron - Strike Team Urban DivisionThe Cobra Strike Team – Urban Division was pretty good at the time. It had some good troop builders and a fun version of Scrap Iron clad in black. Since I made Firefly from this squad for Project New Sculpt, I figured that I may as well keep going. Storm Shadow is already planned.

Head, vest: 25th Scrap Iron

Torso, upper arms: RoC Para-Viper

Lower arms: PoC Shock Trooper

Legs: PoC Snake Eyes

Frostbite
(Spytroops)

The original version of this Frostbite was released
with the Sound Attack Snowcat in the Spytroops line.I always liked the colors they used on that one. For some reason,
I think that the white pants and green parka with blue accents was a cool way
to re-invigorate the old Snow Job mold. Regardless of what Hasbro named this
figure, this figure will be my version of Whiteout and he drives the Ice Sabre.

Head: DG Shipwreck

Goggles: 50th Lowlight

Everything else: 25th Snowjob

Shockwave and Lowlight - GIJCC SWAT Team Con Exclusives

Thess versions of Shockwave and Lowlight are older customs that I
made in 2008 based on the Club’s Headhunters Convention set. They had been stored
away while I was reworking my displays. When I pulled them out, I decided to
give them a mini-update. In my opinion, the 25th Firefly/Beachhead
mold still holds up quite well, so I updated the head and the gear to something
modern. For now, I’m satisfied with it, but I’m not ruling out making a proper
Club version at a later date.

The Cobra
Ninja Strike Team was a fun pack for anyone wanting to add more ninjas to their
collection. Storm Shadow in particular sported a spiffy new jungle/desert color
scheme. For my custom, I tried to replicate the color and build as best as I
could. I did not get the color as close as I would have liked, but I’m pretty
happy with the result anyway. This custom also gave me an opportunity to
practice the paint wash technique.

Head: Ret Red Ninja

Everything else: 50th Storm Shadow

Backpack: RoC Snake Eyes

Although we got a very good Black Dragon Ninja in the Retaliation
line, there is always room for more ninjas. I used a black DG Storm Shadow as a
base, swapped the head and gave it a new paint job. It was a super simple custom
to make, but I’m glad to have it for my ninja display.

Wednesday, 9 September 2015

Bucky, Dusty79 and I did a Night Force project in 2014
and added several members to the sub-team. I already made an aircraft (Night
Star), a boat (Night Devil) and a helicopter (Nighthawk) but I was missing a
sizeable land vehicle for the team to ride on. You can get caught up here: http://oreobuildersblog.blogspot.ca/search?q=Night+Force

For this, I turned to the
Wolfhound (PoC Snowcat). I had a spare and it is the kind of versatile vehicle
that can be used in several environments (except the snow-pedoes) so it would
sense for the Night Force team to have it in their motor pool.